Art mask from Indonesia
Fetishism seems to be a very hard concept for many Americans, including Houstonians, to understand. To understand animist and shamanist beliefs, however, it is important that we do.
In animist beliefs, the world is alive with spirits. Every thing on Earth, natural or manmade, living or made of energy, has spirit. Also, many spirits reside in the spirit world. Many others exist all around us invisibly.
Some animist cultures create special ceremonial objects into which they can call such spirits in order to communicate with them. That is called fetishism. It is not always done by shamans. Ordinary people in animist cultures may use fetishes for spiritual purposes.
Because animists and shamans treat these sacred objects with care and respect, and because they treat the spirits that inhabit them with reverence, outsiders sometimes assume that they are worshipping the mask or fetish. They are not. In fact, they are usually not worshipping the spirit in the mask or fetish either, but simply treating it with great respect and honor.
Add to all that the fact that most people in America seem to have only heard of the word fetish in a sexual context, and you get a lot of confusion. I hope today's column clears some of it up.
Spirit in the Stone, a handbook on fetishes
Zuni animal fetishes
As I said earlier, a fetish is an object in which a spirit resides during spiritual ceremonies. One good example would be the lovely little stone animal figures carved by the Zuni Indians of New Mexico.
Mark Bahti and Linnea Gentry have written an excellent book on stone fetishes. It is Spirit in the Stone, a Handbook of Southwest Indian Animal Carvings and Beliefs.
Zuni fetishes were carved for hunters to carry in their medicine bundles, so most of the figures represented predatory animals that were good hunters.
When a hunter reached the place where he intended to hunt, he would unwrap the medicine bundle containing the little fetish and pray to have the hunting prowess of that particular animal. So, for example, he might call upon the spirit of the badger to come into the little carved badger and teach him to hunt as skillfully as a badger.
Animal fetishes are thought to have begun as animal-shaped stones found right after a vision quest. So a boy might see a vision of a particular animal that was to guide him in hunting, and then on the way home see a stone that reminded him of his animal guide. He would pick it up and keep it to use when calling the animal spirit to guide him in hunting.
Gradually people began to shape their fetish stones to make them more lifelike. Eventually some talented Zuni artists began carving beautiful stone fetish animals for others.
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Nowadays you can buy not only the small fetishes but also larger stone animals, referred to as table fetishes, that are simply art objects. You can also buy necklaces made of tiny stone carvings---usually imitations that are caved in Asia. However, I have also seen wonderful hand-carved fetish necklaces made in the American Southwest.
Hal Zina Bennett has also written an excellent book: Zuni Fetishes: Using Native American Sacred Objects for Meditation, Reflection and Insight.
I have added both books to the list of Shamanism-Related Resources in the right-hand column of this page (below the ads).
Next time: Masks and fetishes, part 2: Kachinas and Masked Stilt Dancers.
For more information on classic shamanic practices, see the list of links to shamanism-related web sites near the lower right corner of this page.
White Cranes has been studying and teaching shamanic practices for 20 years. Follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/whitecranes and http://www.twitter.com/shamanista.
To learn to do shamanic practices in Houston, you are invited to join the Houston Shamanism Meetup group, http://www.meetup.com/houstonshamanism.
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